"Error in method invocation Timeout happens while sending message to microservice" when updating or patching vCenter Server Appliance from VAMI or CLI

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Updating or Patching vCenter Server Appliance fails with this error during pre-checks:

"Error in method invocation Timeout happens while sending message to microservice"

• In the /var/log/vmware/applmgmt/applmgmt.log file, you see entries similar to:

YYYY-MM-DDTHH-MM-SS DEBUG:vmware.appliance.update.update_functions:Exception happens while sending message to microservice: ConnectionRefusedError(111, 'Connection refused')

YYYY-MM-DDTHH-MM-SS INFO:vmware.appliance.update.update_functions:Timeout happens while sending message to microservice

YYYY-MM-DDTHH-MM-SS ERROR:vmware.vapi.provider.local:Error in invoking com.vmware.appliance.update.pending in precheck - Timeout happens while sending message to microservice

• You may see the following entries when the attached patch file is corrupted.

YYYY-MM-DDTHH-MM-SS DEBUG: vmware.appliance.update.update_functions:Exception happens while sending message to microservice:FileNotFoundError (, 'No such file or directory')

YYYY-MM-DDTHH-MM-SS INFO: vmware.appliance.update.update_functions:Timeout

YYYY-MM-DDTHH-MM-SS ERROR: vmware.vapi.provider.local:Error in invoking com.vmware.appliance.update.pending in precheck sending message to microservice

 

Environment

VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.7.x

VMware vCenter Server Appliance 7.x

VMware vCenter Server Appliance 8.x

Cause

This issue is occurs due to stale PID file of update microservice

or

Failure from staging corrupted media

Resolution

To resolve this issue:

Workaround 1:

1. Connect to VCSA using SSH putty session.
2. Navigate to the directory /var/run/vmware/applmgmt/ and verify availability of file update_microservice.pid:

ls /var/run/vmware/applmgmt/update_microservice.pid

3. Proceed to delete the update_microservice.pid file.
   • rm /var/run/vmware/applmgmt/update_microservice.pid
4. Retry the patching of vCenter Server Appliance.

Workaround 2:

• Reboot the vCenter Server Appliance.

Workaround 3: (Suspected Corrupted Media and also getting [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/storage/seat/software-update*/stage/update/patching_backup_config.json')

• Clear the vami installation progress
• Check the media checksum and download new media if checksum does not match
• Restage the update from the vami
• Retry the patching of vCenter Server Appliance